Horns
“That’s how you know if they are a monster or not.” Lonnie informed the team of young pre-teens as they walked from the locker room towards the cafeteria.
Kyle seemed to shrink in on himself at the mere thought. He was comforted by Rogelio’s arm pressuring his shoulder. “But how do you see it if their hair covers them?” He asked, moving to lean in against his friend.
Lonnie scuffed in humored annoyance. “It pokes out of their hair, Kyle! Duh!”
“What are you talking about?” Adora asked as she and Catra caught up to the group. The two had been pulled aside after their last test and reprimanded by the instructor for not taking it seriously.
Rogelio chimed in, talking in his native tongue as they all looked at him, then all looked to Lonnie. She sighed and threw up her hands in defense. “Hey, I’m still taking the language courses, I’m not that fluent yet.” She put her hands down and shrugged. “Anyways, we were talking about how monsters have horns that grow out of their heads and that’s how you can tell. But it only happens on Halloween night.”
Catra chuckled and crossed her arms. “Maybe Shadow Weaver has her pair growing in tonight. That’s why she wasn’t present during the lesson.” She smirked, a single sharp tooth poking out.
The group laughed as they entered the cafeteria. “It’s just a myth.” Lonnie said, grabbing a tray as they got in line. “But I wouldn’t put it past those princesses to all be growing in ugly slime horns tonight.”
“Slimey?!” Kyle shouted in fear. “That sounds grotesque.”
“It is.” Lonnie agreed. “But what isn’t gross about those princesses? They’re evil!”
The team got their dinner and sat down at a table together. Adora poked at her ration bar and wondered what a princess would look like. Already scary looking beings, growing creepy horns on Halloween sounds terrifying. “You don’t suppose they get anymore powers on Halloween, do you?” Adora asked, looking up from the brown ration on her tray.
“Please no, I don’t want to hear about others. I’m already going to have nightmares tonight!” Kyle pleaded, but was ignored.
“Didn’t the simulator instructor tell us about their blood moon or whatever?” Catra asked, munching on her meal bordley.
Lonnie nodded. “Oh yeah! Under a red moon that only appears tonight, they cut their hands open and pour the blood into a chalice. Once all of them have offered their blood, the queen drinks it. Then she cuts her own hand and marks their foreheads with her blood!” Lonnie made exaggerated motions of slicing her hand and then wiped her palm on Kyle’s forehead.
He shrieked and fell off his seat as he pushed back too far. Rogelio helped him up and patted him clean as the group laughed.
Somehow with the crazy exaggerated stories, Adora felt better. None of that could be true. Could it? The thought of horns growing out of their heads for one night seemed to plague her mind the rest of the meal.
Once they were done, the group headed to their barrack and got into bed. Catra sat in the top corner of Adora’s bed, book open as she skimmed through the lesson. Adora lay next to her, same book held above her head but she wasn’t reading it. Catra seemed to catch on to her friends attention being elsewhere and closed her own book, tapping it on Adora’s forehead. “What’s wrong?” She asked.
Adora batted away the offending book before closing her own and tossing it aside. “Do you think the princesses really grow horns and get more powers tonight?” She asked in a whisper, looking up at her friend.
Rolling her eyes, Catra laughed. “Come on, you know Lonnie is just messing with us. Well, messing with Kyle really.” She looked down at Adora and smirked. “Are you scared?!” Her ears perked up in excitement.
“What?! No!” Adora said a little too loudly, receiving shushes from those around trying to sleep. “No, I am not scared, Catra. It’s just...how much do we really know about what the princesses can and can’t do? They are magic after all.”
Lifting the book, Catra pointed to it. “That’s why we are studying. This book exploits their weaknesses. And to be honest, I’m almost done with it, and it says nothing about them growing horns or getting more powerful on Halloween. So relax.” Catra smiled, her demeanor seeming to soften as she placed the book down.
Letting out a sigh, Adora sat up and turned to face Catra. “You’re right. I don’t know why I couldn’t get the image of a creepy princess growing horns out of my head.”
“It is pretty creepy.” Catra chuckled and looked around the room. Most of the cadets seemed to be in bed, sleeping already or reading their study guides. “Come on, let's go raid for Halloween treats and then scare Kyle.”
“Oh! We should put fake horns on our heads.” Adora added excitedly as they got up. She followed Catra out of the barracks to get their Halloween candy.
Catra laughed and agreed. “What would we use to make horns?”
Adora thought for a moment before shrugging. “I’m sure we can find something in the kitchen. Or throw sheets over our heads like usual and just hold up our fingers to make it look like the ghost has horns.”
“Do you think he’ll ever not fall for it?” Catra asked, pulling Adora behind a pipe to hide from the roaming security.
“I hope not. It’s too much fun.” Adora looked around to see if the coast was clear and smiled. “Race you.” She didn’t wait for an answer before getting a head start that didn’t last very long.
Catra passed her with ease and smiled back. “Last one there has to eat those nasty long black candies that no one likes!”
Adora tried to gain the lead, but lost the race. Catching their breath, they raided the kitchen for candy and Adora chewed on the gross candy as they walked back. “Hey, maybe we can use these as horns. They are hard enough and easy to break.” She broke a piece into two and propped it into her hair.
Laughing, Catra nodded and took one, breaking it into two and putting it in her hair. “Let’s go hide the treats first. Then let’s go scare him.”
With their makeshift horns, they got a good scare out of Kyle, waking the whole floor and getting another lecture from the head instructor.